9 OP D.Va Tricks You Should ABUSE! – Overwatch

Hello, everybody! Disciple here with Overwatch Curios! With D.Va’s rework still being somewhat recent, she seems to have fallen out of the meta to a small extent. Now that’s not to say that she’s bad, by any means, however she used to be a mandatory pick due to how extremely powerful Defense Matrix was. Since the adjustment to the uptime of the ability, players have been shying away from playing her. However, there were some other changes made to D.Va in the same patch that many people seem to be overlooking still. While she’s not the uncontested queen of the front lines anymore, soaking absurd amounts of damage with a never ending matrix, the changes made have instead shifted her to a much more aggressive role. She can put out a lot of damage now, while still having access to Matrix to shut down important abilities when needed. D.Va gameplay now is a mix of mobile harassment and burst damage, while physically mitigating damage for her team either with Defense Matrix or her own mech.

In today’s video we’re going to give you a rundown of the new D.Va and how to play her more effectively in the start of our new Grandmaster Tips series! One of the most important changes made to D.Va in that patch, was the decision to allow her to fire while using her boosters. Dva has always been a mobile tank with the ability to harass enemy supports or snipers fairly effectively, but this change allows her to pump out more damage in the time it takes her to close the gap and is a big part of why her damage dealt has skyrocketed as of late. Not only can you use DVa’s primary fire while boosting, but you can also fire your rockets as well. In this way, D.Va is able to frontload a ton of damage to targets as she closes the gap. Squishy targets may even flat out die from this pressure before you reach them, but it sets up a great burst combo that you can utilize as well.

Once you’ve selected a target, boost towards them. You’ll want to activate your rockets, and then begin firing your guns as you close the gap. Once you reach the target, you’ll deal even more damage to the target simply by colliding with your boost. To round it all out, you can cancel your boost once reaching your target by using your melee attack. This method of engaging on your target front loads a lot of damage behind the rockets, and then provides a smaller secondary boost to eliminate them by boosting into them and following it up with a melee. This can be a great way for D.Va to secure opening picks, and she then has the option to use Defense Matrix if needed to survive while waiting for the cooldown of her boosters to either move to a new target, reposition to a health pack, or to group back up with her team and receive some support from allies.

While this next tip isn’t a new tactic or related to any patch changes, it’s something that a lot of players just aren’t aware of. After activating Self Destruct, D.Va can move her exploding mech slightly just by walking into it. This can create crazy 900 IQ plays where a D.Va player places a bomb on a higher ledge. When the team sees the exclamation icon indicating the location of the bomb, they’ll assume that they are safe because it is out of line of sight. Meanwhile, D.Va sneakily nudges the exploding mech forward, dropping it off of the ledge, and securing surprise kills because of this.

Now to pull this off, you need to slowly walk into the mech by moving forward for a split second, releasing forward, moving forward for a split second, and repeating that process. If you hold forward or move too quickly, you’ll end up just passing through the mech and walking off of the ledge yourself, which will be more embarrassing than epic. However, strategically ulting like this to confuse enemies can definitely secure some surprise kills on the enemy team. A mistake that a lot of players make when playing D.Va is playing too aggressively when they do not have their mech. Since baby Dva charges a new ultimate and regains mech so quickly, most of the time it’s more important to fall back and play safely than it is to run forward holding fire and trying to get back into mech as fast as possible. Fall back to your team, and try to find something like a wall or a Reinhardt shield to hide behind, within line of sight of your supports.

From the back focus on spamming your shots on tight angles or into chokes where you know the enemy team is likely to be coming from, and safely get back into your mech without the risk of dying. Dying as a baby Dva can cost your team a lot of time, since you’re no good to them outside of your mech, and it’s essentially like sitting two respawn timers over if you get knocked out of mech and can’t get a new one before you die. Play your corners tight, and don’t be afraid to retreat from damage for a second or two if it means you’ll be able to get the mech back online. Now on the opposite side of this topic, there are definitely times when it can be more advantageous for you to just accept defeat and commit suicide.

If you’re coming off the tail end of a duel that you won, however you no longer have your mech, it may be wiser to simply jump off of the map to respawn faster if you’re at the end of a team fight and in the stages of grouping back up with your team. Since D.Va’s jets not only allow her to close distance quickly, but also have a short cooldown, getting back into your mech faster and using your jets to regroup is sometimes the exact play you need to make. Keep in mind that you’ll lose nothing for doing this. You’ll deny the enemy team any ultimate charge from damaging you, while not losing any of the progress you have towards your next Self Destruct as well. Not only is your mech what makes you so great, but it’s also large. Like, very large… and that actually has a lot of weight (bad joke) in game when you know how to take advantage of it.

Many teams often struggle with pushing the payload to completion at the end of the map, however due to the size of DVa’s mech you can physically block players from exiting their spawn door simply by standing in front of it. This will be a good time to drain your Defense Matrix stores, since enemies will be able to deal free damage to you while also remaining safe, but physically blocking the exit can allow your team to progress the cart uncontested. This can even keep an ulting Zenyatta locked in his spawn, which is something Zenyatta players will do to try and reach a payload as fast as possible on defense as a means of keeping it stalled for longer. You can also use this tactic to block narrow doors, like those on Gibraltar for example. Taking advantage of collision in clever ways will drastically improve your success with D.Va. However, you don’t always have to be in mech to utilize body blocking. The first instinct of most players in the game is to immediately turn and run for cover when they see a Self Destruct activated by an enemy player. Top level D.Va players will frequently use their body as baby D.Va to body block and slow down the retreat of enemies, forcing them to eat the devastating damage of the Self Destruct.

Now positioning for this is key, so if it’s something you’re planning on doing, you’ll need to remember to jump as you exit your mech suit, that way you can gain height and close the distance on the enemy you’re trying to stall. Since Self Destruct has such a short timer, sometimes all it takes is that split second of standing in front of an enemy’s line of travel to keep them within range of the explosion. One of the worst things you can do as the new D.Va is to use Defense Matrix without thinking about why you’re using it before activation.

Since it’s a more limited resource, it needs to be used with great forethought prior to activation. For example, Reinhardt is capable of charging his ultimate very quickly thanks to the damage of his Fire Strike. D.Va is a perfect counter to this. By tapping Defense Matrix for a split second just to absorb every Fire Strike he throws, you completely shut down his ability to charge Earthshatter quickly. Other characters also fire in predictable patterns as well. Hanzo arrows, Pharah rockets, they all travel in predictable times which you can exploit to deny them damage just with the quickest activation and deactivation of Matrix. And of course, any time you’re playing against a Zarya or Tracer, look for opportunities to absorb their ultimates. Especially at lower levels of play, these will be very predictable because they’ll suddenly rush forward with seemingly no reason, giving you an indication that they plan to overextend just to use their ultimate ability.

Our last tip is another thing that inexperienced DVa players struggle with while learning how to play her, but it’s very important. Sometimes, it’s way better not to use Defense Matrix. If you’re playing with a Zarya and she’s just activated her bubble, or maybe used it on you, there’s absolutely no reason to use Defense Matrix, as you’ll just be denying her charge. Similarly, if your friendly Genji has deflect activated, if you Defense Matrix on top of him, you’re just denying him a source of free damage since he’s already reflecting incoming shots.

Instead, focus on using Matrix after his deflect so that he can reposition or get back to safety if needed. And of course, if you’re partnered with a Reinhardt, there’s seldom reason to use Defense Matrix if his shield is active and healthy, and you aren’t being flanked. Instead, use your Defense Matrix to protect him when his shield goes down, so that it can regenerate and your team can maintain control of a choke point without having to fall back. Well everybody, that wraps up our Grandmaster tips on playing Dva, but we’d love to hear some feedback. We’re just getting into doing some more analytical content like this for you all, and we want to know if you all are interested in seeing us do more of this series, and other videos in the same style! So if you are, make sure to hit that thumbs up button so we know what you all want to see, and if you’re new here and looking for more tips, make sure to subscribe so you know when we’ve got new videos like this hot and ready for your viewing pleasure! And until next time, peace!